The present invention generally relates to computers, and more particularly relates to personal computers, and even more particularly relates to methods and systems for providing memory in industrial personal computers.
In recent years, industrial personal computers have become increasingly prevalent in many industries. It is not uncommon today to see rows of industrial PCs arranged in racks. Also in recent months, Compact Flash memory has gained widespread use in palm computers and in digital cameras, due to its non-volatile nature and its other price and performance characteristics. ATA flash, which includes a PCMCIA card having flash memory enclosed therein, has been used in the past. Additionally, it has been common to use PCMCIA cards with Compact Flash adapters therein to detachably receive Compact Flash memory devices and thereby allow coupling of Compact Flash devices with PCs, especially laptop computers. However, PCMCIA slots are typically much less prevalent in industrial PCs than in laptops. When PCMCIA slots are included in an industrial PC, it can, in some applications, occur by substituting a PCMCIA slot in a bay otherwise used for a floppy disk drive. Additionally, there have been expansion cards, which couple to the ISA or PCI expansion slots in a PC which have included slots therein for receiving a Compact Flash device. While the use of adapters and expansion cards to couple compact flash memory devices to a PC have been successfully used in the past, they do have some drawbacks. One drawback of such coupling methods is the requirement to use one of the available expansion slots or PCMCIA slots in the PC. Using such a slot reduces the overall versatility of the PC. Consequently, there exists a need for improved methods and systems for improving non-volatile memory in industrial computers.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for storing data in a non-volatile manner in industrial PCs.
It is a feature of the present invention to utilize a compact flash memory device disposed on the backplane of an industrial computer.
It is another feature of the present invention to include a slot for receiving compact flash devices.
It is an advantage of the present invention to achieve improved memory characteristic in industrial personal computers.
The present invention is an apparatus and method for improving memory performance in industrial personal computers, which are designed to satisfy the aforementioned needs, provide the previously stated objects, include the above-listed features and achieve the already articulated advantages. The present invention is carried out in a xe2x80x9cPCMCIA-lessxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cexpansion card-lessxe2x80x9d manner in a sense that the need for the use of a PCMCIA or expansion card slot and adapter to receive compact flash devices has been greatly reduced.
Accordingly, the present invention is a system and method including a compact flash device coupled to a compact flash slot coupled directly to the backplane in an industrial computer; and, in the alternative, a compact flash device coupled to a slot for receiving an insert.